Following a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A Master of Glitz
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City
She says this figure are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea Swift hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to emulate than these performers, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where no one falters.
